ACT announces new security measures

ACT is announcing new safeguards that will further ensure score integrity and meet students in the advanced technology world they live in today. During the upcoming 2012-2013 testing year, the following rules will be implemented:

Students will upload or otherwise provide a recognizable head-and-shoulders photo of themselves at the time they register - online or by mail - for the ACT.

The photo will be printed on the student's admission ticket, which the student will be required to bring to the test center. It will also be printed on the examinee roster that testing staff use to check in students on test day.

Students who fail to bring their admission ticket will not be admitted to the test.

On test day, test center staff will match the photo on the student's admission ticket to the photo on the examinee roster and to the student's photo ID. Staff will then match all three photos to the student who arrives to take the test before granting the student admission. Test center staff may also check the student's identification throughout the test session.

In addition to submitting a photo, students will provide ACT with their gender and with the name of the high school they attend. ACT will use this information to help match the examinee's identity throughout the testing process.

Both before and after testing, students will provide written affirmation that they are the person whose name appears on the test booklet and answer sheet which they have submitted. They will also acknowledge that assuming anyone else's identity to take the test may be a violation of law and be subject to legal penalty.

After tests have been scored, the student's photo will be printed on the score report that will be automatically sent to the high school attended by the student.

To deter attempts to circumvent these procedures, students (including those who hope to test on a standby basis) will be required to register their intent to test and will not be allowed to make any test center or test date changes on the day of the test.

"Under our revised test security protocols," said Jon Erickson ACT Education president, "test security will be enhanced by the latest Web and photography technology, while being reinforced by the people who know the students best — the teachers and counselors at their high schools."

Like the vast majority of students, ACT understands the importance of honest test scores. They also know the importance of ensuring that students maintain access to the educational opportunities the ACT test provides. Their solution achieves both objectives, by investing their own reserves so that the new rules do not impact the normal cost of the test.

ACT continues to work out the operational details for the new test security protocols. Information about new procedures will be distributed to testing staff through normal communication channels and to students, parents, teachers, and the public through ACTstudent.org.